99 Red Balloons
You find an unexpected ally in Brent Valmont, who's a bit different than you've been led to believe Cast * Paula Cohen * Peter Lynne * Sam Yao * Janine De Luca * ANNIE * Brent Valmont Plot It Can't Wait Valmont holds all the cards in this surprise meeting, holding the threat of both Sigrid and ANNIE over your heads. It seems he doesn't want you dead, instead just wants to show you something. One Of Those Nifty Headsets The thing that can't wait is a replica of the Battlestar Galactica bridge. Sam and Janine try to work out Valmont's angle, but he says he really does want to help you find Selma. Go In On Foot Valmont begins taking you to Jay-Jay Nation, where Sigrid keeps the possessions of immune people. For unknown reasons he needs Paula to appear out of breath when you arrive. Come On Family, Run! You run into a farmer who only lets you cross his land due to Valmont playing on his heart strings, and pretending Paula is having an asthma attack. It's Worked Loose Sam wants to know how Valmont knew the farmer would be sympathetic. Through ANNIE, Valmont can get intel on anyone, although he's disappointed about no longer needing cold reading skills. Don't Be Late For The Funeral As you run from a zombie Valmont explains how he went from grifter to Xia-Hifa CEO. He also warns you're about to crash a gangland funeral, and mustn't be late. Finish This Job In Style! At the funeral Valmont starts yelling untruths about the person being remembered, and promptly gets your group thrown into Jay-Jay Nation as a punishment. Won't Cause Any More Trouble Now inside the facility, Valmont uses a hair from Selma's brush to get a DNA sample, and ANNIE locates her in a Paradise Project biosphere. You hide when someone else enters - sounds like you're not the only ones after Selma... S06E18 // Rofflenet Discussion regarding this mission can be found on Rofflenet Transcript SAM YAO: Right, that’s Brent Valmont, the billionaire even Amelia’s afraid of. And you’re in his actual… lair! JANINE DE LUCA: whispers Runner Five, I have a plan. When I say run, run! BRENT VALMONT: Are you planning to escape? That’s exactly what I’d expect of you! I bet you’ve got an incredible plan, Janine! Course you do, you’re an incredible woman. You need a nickname. Brains! Five, I’m calling you Speedy Gonzales, because of the running. Sam! Is Sam on comms with you? ANNIE: Mr. Valmont, would you like me to patch Sam Yao through the speakers to you? SAM YAO: No, wait! Wait, wait! No, don’t – speaker don’t do that. sighs Oh, you’ve done it, haven’t you? This feels weird. Like I’m naked. Can you all hear me? JANINE DE LUCA: We can, Mr. Yao. Mr. Valmont, what is it you want with us? BRENT VALMONT: All right, listen. I could turn you over to Sigrid now for your various crimes – trespassing, stealing, impersonating a chef – I’m sure at least one of those carries the death penalty in her gray new world. JANINE DE LUCA: But you’re not going to do that. BRENT VALMONT: No! Never would I ever do that to you, Brains! Never. And I mean, obviously, I could just tell ANNIE to kill you here and now, and no one would be any the wiser. ANNIE: Would you like me to fill the chamber with deadly neurotoxin now, Mr. Valmont? BRENT VALMONT: Belay that order, ANNIE. SAM YAO: Are you not going to do that, either? What is it you want? BRENT VALMONT: Look, just come with me. I’ve got something to show you, and it can’t wait. Come on, run! SAM YAO: Is this what you had to show us that couldn’t wait? BRENT VALMONT: Yup! SAM YAO: Okay. So yeah, it’s the bridge from the Battlestar Galactica! If I had that, it couldn’t wait either, but… what do you want? BRENT VALMONT: sighs I just wanted you to know that I’m a bit like you. Geeky! I know Amelia’s probably told you terrible things about me. Breakups are the worst, and she did take some things from me I really would rather she hadn’t, and I’m sure she thinks I’m still angry, but I’m not all bad. And Sigrid’s such a killjoy. All that order is so boring! I’ve been hoping to meet you. I want to help you. SAM YAO: You don’t. BRENT VALMONT: I do! SAM YAO: Hmm. We’ve had these conversations before. Even if you’re not loyal to Sigrid, she’s delving out anti-zombie serum. You’re taking it from her. And if we try and explain where it comes from, you wouldn’t believe us. BRENT VALMONT: It’s from babies. SAM YAO: You know? BRENT VALMONT: I do. JANINE DE LUCA: You know, and you support her? BRENT VALMONT: I support her up to a point. The point is the point at which she knows about it. Cards on the table: you’re looking for Selma, the woman who’s run away from Sigrid and has half a dozen bounty hunters after her. I can’t help you publicly, but I can get you – what is it you need to find her, ANNIE? ANNIE: A sample of DNA, Mr. Valmont. BRENT VALMONT: Oh yeah, we can get that no sweat. Plus, I hear on the grapevine that Amelia wants to save those babies, and if she wants it, I want it. So, you need some DNA from this Selma. I can get it for you. Come with me. SAM YAO: Is this a trap? JANINE DE LUCA: If it is, it’s a very puzzling one. BRENT VALMONT: Follow me to the transport at the back door! ANNIE, rustle me up one of those nifty headsets. I’ll send for Paula and Peter. Come on, run! PAULA COHEN: Where are you taking us? BRENT VALMONT: There’s a little pocket state on the far side of Jay-Jay Nation where Sigrid keeps a collection of personal possessions of immune people, for research, I think. They’re all carefully labeled, and I have access to the facility, so we should find what we need there. JANINE DE LUCA: Jay-Jay? Hmm, yes, I see. We’ll find a path through Clover Meadows. They’re peaceful. Then up via the pass at the undercroft. Quick and safe. BRENT VALMONT: Mm, no. I don’t think that’s our best route. Sigrid’s installed new cameras in the undercroft in exchange for vaccine supplies. JANINE DE LUCA: I didn’t know that. BRENT VALMONT: It only happened yesterday, Brains, don’t doubt yourself! JANINE DE LUCA: I wasn’t doubting myself. BRENT VALMONT: That’s that spirit! vehicle Anyway, I have a better route. vehicle door We’ll go in on foot, and we’d better speed up. Paula, I need you out of breath when we get there. PAULA COHEN: Uh, what? BRENT VALMONT: Run! moos PETER LYNNE: Oh, I know this place. It’s, uh, one of those farms that’s declared itself an autonomous city-state, isn’t it? PAULA COHEN: A city-state whose citizens are mostly sheep and cows? BRENT VALMONT: Save your breath, Paula. Here comes trouble. FARMER: What are you doing here? Get off my land? BRENT VALMONT: Ah, wonderful. Great to see you. I, uh, I live in Goldmont, over the other side of this field. FARMER: I haven’t seen you in Goldmont. BRENT VALMONT: We’ve just moved in. We’re sort of a family, you know. Post-apocalypse, banded together. We do just need to cross this field. FARMER: No one crosses my field. That’s the law. My own private property. BRENT VALMONT: Yes, yes. I do see. Property is nine-tenths of the law, but you see, my wife, my darling wife, Paula, is having an asthma attack. PAULA COHEN: wheezes I’m… I’m… having… an… an asthma attack! BRENT VALMONT: You may not know, asthma medication is very scarce. There’s only one inhaler in the whole of Goldmont, and I really must get her home. You wouldn’t endanger this poor woman’s life, would you? FARMER: Hmm. As it happens, I have asthma myself. Go on, get on with you, and don’t tell nobody you came this way. BRENT VALMONT: Oh, thank you! Thank you! Come on, family. Run! SAM YAO: How did you know that farmer had asthma? BRENT VALMONT: He had a very distinctive semi-circular mark at the corner of his lip. Jury-rigged asthma inhalers are often made from Comansys rebreathers, which leave that mark on the face. That, coupled with the envelope in his pocket from the pharmaceuticals dump in ? suggested he’d be susceptible to asthma-based persuasion. PAULA COHEN: But you told me to start running before we saw the farmer. BRENT VALMONT: Oh yes, that’s right. No, no, I had intel on that farmer. I have intel on everyone. sighs I miss the old way of doing this, cold reading and so on. Shame. There’s practically nothing ANNIE can’t tell me with a bit of time. JANINE DE LUCA: Really? Is she privy to the Minister’s secret plans? BRENT VALMONT: Oh, you want to bypass all this and find out where those babies are? No, even ANNIE doesn’t know that. Sigrid keeps it all on paper and files on her private system, not connected to any network. And I’ll tell you what else I’ve got nowhere with: ANNIE’s been trying to knock up a cure to the zombie plague for years for me. Got nowhere. Your Veronica hasn’t gotten anywhere with it, has she? No, don’t worry. I know she hasn’t. growls Anyway, look, uh, there’s a zombie. I think the idiot farmer was using it as a scarecrow, but it’s worked loose. Come on, run! BRENT VALMONT: Oh, this is exciting! Thrill of the chase! I miss it. You know, from the old days. PETER LYNNE: Are you telling us you ran away from zombies in the old days? BRENT VALMONT: No, no, no. I was a grifter, like Amelia. That’s one of the things that drew us together. sighs Eventually, I grifted my way into owning a technology company, Xia-Hifa. I was only supposed to hold onto it for six months, then dump the stock, take the profits, off to Honolulu, but I found that my particular brand of economy with the truth worked terrifically well in the business world. I spun bigger and bigger lies about what my company would do, then the employees read my interviews and made it happen! They called me - PAULA COHEN: A technological visionary who can see the future. I remember. BRENT VALMONT: I’ve missed the hands-on stuff, though, even in the apocalypse. I think I’ve kept myself too safe. Anyway, here we are, at the border of Goldmont. None of you have any weapons, do you? Good. There’s a gangland funeral today. Two rival clans have been invited as part of a truce]. They’ll each assume we’re with the other, so stick with me. Come on, we don’t want to be late for the funeral. Run! MOURNER: And now, Scorpion Fang will give a eulogy for her beloved brother. Scorpion Fang? SAM YAO: Oh my God. Scorpion Fang’s brother. Didn’t Amelia get him killed so she could take over New Canton? BRENT VALMONT: Did she really? What’s she like? God, I miss her. You know where I made my mistake with her? Tried to get her to go straight. Showed her my technology company, thought she’d be impressed by the money. PAULA COHEN: Wasn’t she? BRENT VALMONT: No. It was always the achievement for her. Money’s just the way you prove you’re winning. No point if you stop playing the game. She took it all when she left. Am I heartbroken? Yes. Am I angry? Only with that old devil called love. I can’t deny it. I still hold a torch for that woman. All right. Let me do this thing. PETER LYNNE: What thing? BRENT VALMONT: This thing. shouts Eagle Fang was a member of the Star Militia. whispers He wasn’t. shouts Truth! The people demand the truth! PETER LYNNE: Valmont, what are you doing? BRENT VALMONT: Just look like you’re with me. PAULA COHEN: There are some very large guards coming over to us now, Valmont. They don’t look happy. BRENT VALMONT: That’s good. Keep talking to me. JANINE DE LUCA: Mr. Valmont, we are going to get pounded to a pulp. BRENT VALMONT: Oh no, definitely not. Not at a funeral. Honor amongst thieves. GUARD: You are all disturbing the peace at this sacred event. BRENT VALMONT: Oh, really? Very sorry. I thought it was something else. Uh, a party. GUARD: All of you, with me. BRENT VALMONT: No, no! Don’t throw us into Jay-Jay Nation! They told me they’d kill me if I ever went back there! GUARD: Oh, yes. There is no passage from Goldmont to Jay-Jay, but for you, I will make an exception. BRENT VALMONT: No, no, no! Not Jay-Jay! Please! jingle No, you monsters! Oh, you heartless, cruel monsters! clangs shut JANINE DE LUCA: Mr. Valmont, that was… I must say, I’m afraid that was very impressive. BRENT VALMONT: Really? Thanks. Plenty more where that came from, Brains. Look, the facility’s just over there. Speedy Gonzales, you run with me. Let’s finish this job in style! clicks, printer whirs, paper rustles BRENT VALMONT: There. The box containing the file on Selma Stein is #133. Open the third drawer down, Five. opens PAULA COHEN: That’s creepy. They’ve got a hairbrush with her hair on it. Some clothing, jewelry. It’s like a museum of the immune. BRENT VALMONT: And if I take one of those hairs, put it into my mini DNA sampler - beeps ANNIE: DNA isolated. Mr. Valmont, would you like me to initiate DNA search now? BRENT VALMONT: I mean, yes. What else did we come all this way for? ANNIE: Information, Mr. Valmont. Reinstating DNA search functions will re-enable Project Glass. SAM YAO: Project Glass? That very deadly thing you’re trying to do to Five? BRENT VALMONT: Ah, yes. That’s a bugger. Tell you the truth, I never fully understood what Project Glass was. ? beavering away never bothered me about anything until it was salable. I thought we took the chips that’d let you do it out of the backup mainframe a few years ago. Oh, well, can’t be helped now. ANNIE, Project Glass – how likely is it to be deadly, and how soon? ANNIE: Not immediately deadly. BRENT VALMONT: Oh, well, that’s fine then! Authorization granted. We’ll figure something out. SAM YAO: No, no, no! Hold on a second. You can’t just set something up that’s going to kill Runner Five - beeps ANNIE: Process complete. Target located in biosphere sigma alpha, Paradise Project. JANINE DE LUCA: Oh Lord, that poor woman. opens DOCENT: It’s through here. BRENT VALMONT: Someone’s coming. Quick, behind those filing cabinets, all of you. Hurry! DOCENT: You’re the fourth one to come for this box today. We’re running out of objects to give people. BOUNTY HUNTER: The Minister’s bounty is very attractive. opens DOCENT: Here you go. Hairbrush? BOUNTY HUNTER: Yes. My bloodhound will get a good scent for this Selma from that. I’ll find her, and she won’t be causing any more trouble. Category:Mission Category:Season Six